Overview
Plant hire puts ownership and operation in two different organisations. PreStartGo's model gives both sides one continuous compliance record, generated by the same interlock, without either side trusting the other's paperwork — and with the operating organisation's own people inspecting and unlocking the machine like any of their own.
The chain: agreement → assignment → classification
Three steps, each with a distinct owner:
- 1
The owner invites, the operator accepts — once per relationship. An operating agreement between the two organisations establishes that org B may run org A's plant at all. One live agreement per pair; machine-by-machine handovers ride on it.
- 2
The owner assigns the machine. Against the agreement, the owner assigns a specific machine to the operating organisation, optionally time-boxed with a start and end. Assignment (and taking it back) is the owner's unilateral act — it's their machine.
- 3
The operating organisation classifies it. The machine arrives unclassified — the owner's equipment group means nothing in the borrower's org. Classifying it into one of the operating organisation's own groups is what connects it to their licences, their default checklist, and their operators. Until this step, nobody on the operating side can inspect it.
From there, the operating organisation's licensed operators run pre-starts and unlock the machine exactly as they do their own plant — the machine appears in their app and their fleet view, side by side with the owner's continuing visibility. The console's fleet map stays the owner's: on the machine's own page, the operating organisation sees where its own latest pre-start with a GPS position since the hire began was done, never the owner's Tracker positions or where the machine was before the hire.
Who can do what during a hire
| Action | Owner org | Operating org |
|---|---|---|
| Inspect and unlock | Their licensed operators, as ever | Their licensed operators, once classified |
| Raise and work defects | Yes — defects live with the machine | Yes — attributed with the cross-org context |
| See compliance history | Yes, continuously | Yes, for the machines assigned to them |
| Service records | Live with the owner | Visible; field work attributed |
| End the assignment | Yes — unilaterally | — |
When both organisations could apply (a person who belongs to both), the platform acts under the operating organisation — records name the org actually running the machine.
The public logbook doesn't care who's holding it
Anyone scanning the machine's GoTag sees its current compliance status throughout the hire, including the current operating organisation while the hire is live — visibility both sides usually want at handover and return. See The Public Digital Logbook.
Site presence is a separate channel
Operating a machine and bringing plant onto a site are different relationships. A contracting agreement (site host ↔ contractor) governs whether a contractor's plant can be inducted onto the host's sites — orthogonal to the hire chain above. A machine can be under either, both, or neither. See Site Check-In and Geofencing.
Ending a hire
The owner ends the assignment — immediately, or it lapses at its end date. The machine drops out of the operating organisation's fleet, and the full compliance history from the hire period stays with the machine permanently. Time-boxed assignments are enforced live: an assignment past its end date confers nothing, whether or not anyone remembered to formally end it. The end date is inclusive: the hire runs to the end of that day, in the time zone of the computer that set it.
Edge cases
- Devices during a hire — the machine's Interlock stays commissioned to its owner throughout; the operating org's people unlock it through the platform's normal authorisation. No re-commissioning for a hire.
- The operating organisation's machine cap — a lent machine counts towards the operating organisation's plan cap from the moment the owner books the hire, even one that starts on a later date. If that plan is already full, the owner's assignment is refused with a message giving the count and limit, such as "(5 of 5)"; reactivating an inactive machine that is out on hire is checked the same way. The operating organisation makes room, or moves to a plan without a cap.
- An unclassified machine in limbo — assigned but not yet classified is the "nobody can inspect it" window; classification is the first thing the operating org should do on receipt.
- Expiring agreements — both agreement types warn ahead of their end dates, so a hire doesn't die of surprise paperwork.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Operating org can't see the machine | Assignment not accepted/made, or not classified | Walk the chain: agreement accepted? machine assigned? classified? |
| Operators see it but can't inspect | Classified into a group they hold no licence for | Licence the group — see License Groups |
| Machine still shows with the operator after return | The assignment wasn't ended | The owner ends it from the machine's record |
| Hire ended mid-shift | Time-boxed assignment lapsed | Windows are enforced live — agree timing with the owner |
| Assigning refused, naming a count such as "(5 of 5)" | The operating organisation's plan cap is full | They free a machine slot or move to a plan without a cap, then assign again |